By Regina Minaya 

More than three decades have passed since the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) became law in 1990. This vital legislation mandated that museums and federal institutions catalog and return Indigenous human remains and burial objects within five years. However, the American Museum of Natural History’s prolonged non-compliance with NAGPRA paints a stark picture of 33 years of inaction. 

In mid-October this year, the museum’s new president, Sean Decatur, took a momentous step by announcing a series of policy changes. These changes, shared through an open letter to the museum’s staff, signify the institution’s long-overdue commitment to repatriation. Immediate changes include the creation of new storage facilities for the respectful preservation of human remains and the removal of human remains, including objects made from human bones, from 12 display cases. 

The American Museum of Natural History’s non-compliance with NAGPRA has earned it the label of one of the worst offenders, according to tribal representatives. This non-compliance has had a profound impact on Indigenous Americans and formerly enslaved people whose ancestral remains were held by the museum. President Decatur’s recognition of this dark history is a crucial step in the right direction. He emphasized that, except for those who willingly donated their bodies for medical study, no individual consented to having their remains included in a museum collection. 

Museum president Decatur also highlighted the role of extreme power imbalances in accumulating these collections and the disturbing fact that many researchers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries used these remains to advance unscientific agendas rooted in white supremacy. These agendas aimed to identify physical differences that could reinforce ideas of racial hierarchy. This condemnation of the museum’s past actions is a necessary reckoning. Of the 12,000 human remains held by the American Museum of Natural History, approximately 2,200 are Indigenous American ancestors, underlining the urgency of repatriation efforts. 

Since 2005, the American Museum of Natural History has used a loophole in the 1990 NAGPRA law known as the “culturally unidentifiable” classification. This legal maneuver has allowed the museum to delay repatriation indefinitely. In 2019, a coalition of five tribal nations on Long Island, the Shinnecock Nation Graves Protection Warrior Society, demanded the return of nearly 60 ancestors excavated from various locations. Remarkably, less than 24 hours after this powerful announcement, the coalition received a long-awaited response to their impassioned demands, marking a turning point in their efforts to secure the return of their ancestors. 

While these new policies offer some cautious hope to tribal representatives, there is a strong sense of condemnation for the 33-year delay. The extended period of inaction and non-compliance is inexcusable. Speculation that recent policy changes are driven by public outcry and a broader movement for racial reckoning further underscores the need for change. The hope now is that these changes signal a genuine commitment to repatriation and the start of a more equitable relationship between museums and the communities they serve. Accountability and action are long overdue to address past injustices.